The Road Trip Series
by Danielle Rachel
Summary: She's had the itinerary planned for weeks now but, as usual, it will likely go out of the window as a result of Nino's need for spontaneity, Marinette's inability to stay organised, and Adrien's hate for schedules in general. It doesn't matter, it's all part of the routine and Alya is as excited as ever. In which the crew decide to road trip it to Marseille and shenanigans ensue.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Nino, we agreed that I would drive first." Alya places her hands on her hips, foot beginning to tap in frustration. They've been going back and forth for about ten minutes now and she's tired of this metaphorical ping-pong match. Why can't the boy just be less damn annoying?

Nino shrugs noncommittedly and jingles the car keys in her face. "My car, my rules, Al. I always take first shift on these trips, it's tradition. Besides, I only agreed to that because it was ridiculous o'clock in the morning and I needed sleep." He blows her a kiss and unlocks the car so that they can start loading their stuff into it.

Alya takes a minute to just stare at him and wonder how she ended up dating someone so irritating and immature and insufferable and –

"Al, I know what you're thinking but I'm going to remind you that you love me for all my faults and secretly find them endearing because I'm just that loveable."

– and apparently psychic.

"Just shut up and get in the driver's seat, idiot."

Nino grins widely at her and lands a quick peck on her cheek anyway. Although he will swear up and down that he doesn't love anything more than Alya (except for his Bestest Bro Adrien), annoying Alya makes for a pretty close second.

The road trips have been an annual tradition for the last three years. Their first trip, to Calais, took place three weeks into the summer before university started and, ever since then, they'd made it an official tradition to explore somewhere new every year.

This year, they're tackling the seven-hour drive to Marseille. She's had the itinerary planned for weeks now but, as usual, it will likely go out of the window as a result of Nino's need for spontaneity, Marinette's inability to stay organised, and Adrien's hate for schedules in general. It doesn't matter, it's all part of the routine and Alya is as excited as ever.

Except seven hours is a long time. As much as she loves Nino, seven hours is a long, long time and she will be stuck in the passenger seat forever.

"I promise you won't be stuck in the passenger seat forever." Nino grins at her from in the car, reading her mind.

Alya raises an eyebrow. The psychic mind reading thing would be more impressive if they didn't have this exact conversation every year. Especially seeing as how last year turned out.

"Okay, okay. You won't be stuck in the passenger seat forever, this time. Better?" Nino waits for Alya to roll her eyes dramatically. "Now get your butt in the car, we're gonna be late! I wanna beat traffic and that's not gonna happen if you stand there tapping your foot at me all day!"

"You're lucky I love you, Lahiffe."

"So I've been told." he winks back at her. Alya wants to roll her eyes again.

It's barely seven but it's still a Saturday and traffic will pile up in no time. Alya's never been too fond of super early mornings, but it's a sacrifice she's willing to make if it means that they have the best damn road trip of all time. She's so glad that they haven't stopped doing these trips.

With university and work and all the other responsibilities they each have it's become so much harder to plan and organise things like this, and for a while Alya was worried that they'd stop altogether.

Her internship has been so full on recently that she hasn't seen Marinette in a week and she hadn't even been able to grab lunch with Adrien on Tuesday because all her lunch hours have been devoted to finalising content in the lead up to press week. Heck, she's barely seen Nino and she _lives_ with him. Although to be fair this DJ gig has Nino working mainly nights, so he's usually already gone by the time she gets home and is asleep when she leaves in the mornings.

"How come you're so awake?" She practically yawns the words out.

"Are you kidding me? We're on our way to pick up my Bestest Bro in the world! Of course I'm gonna be awake for this!" He's practically bouncing in his seat.

"Nino, you saw Adrien on Monday. It's only been, like, four days –"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Al. Because obviously someone doesn't know how to recognise true love when they see it. Any time spent apart from my Bestest Bro is too much time apart." Nino clutches his hand to his heart and the way his voice cracks on 'true love' is just too perfect.

"You know anyone would guess that you're actually Adrien's boyfriend and not mine." She deadpans, arms folded and one eyebrow raised. Nino's random declarations of True Love for Adrien are now a regular occurrence in Alya's life. The two of them are, as Nino puts it, _the bestest bros in all of Paris_.

He really wants to get that written on matching t-shirts for Adrien's birthday and if Alya didn't already know that Adrien was planning the same thing for Nino's birthday, she would back him one hundred percent.

Except she is Alya and Everyone tells her Everything. It's both a blessing and a curse.

"Nino, you were supposed to take the last left, what are you doing? I thought you said you wanted to get on the road ASAP, not take the scenic route to Adrien's apartment!"

"Well, in case you didn't notice the scenic route is the only one not blocked up by traffic."

"Hey, use your turn signal you idiot! You can't just do whatever the hell you want whenever-"

"The road was clear, there is literally nobody around to care about whether or not I use the turn signal apart from you!" Nino huffs. "And you are in the same car as me!"

"Alright you know what – actually, hold that thought. Mari's calling you." Alya sticks her tongue out at her boyfriend's stupid smug face before answering Nino's phone. "Mari girl, hey. Yeah – no, well I – one sec, let me put you on speaker, alright?"

"Mari! My number two bro! You're on speaker, dude!" Nino grins.

"Hey, Nino!" Marinette giggles from the other end of the line.

"I can't wait until we get to yours because Alya has been driving me insane and I need you to distract her!"

"Is that all I'm worth to you? I'm offended."

"Seriously, dude. I miss you, Maribro." Alya may complain about a lack of Marinette time, but Nino hasn't seen her in three weeks. They've had to make do with weirdly timed texts and rushed face times at all sorts of hours. The only reason they manage to talk as much as they do is because they're both practically nocturnal at this point and they can vent to one another about a lack of both sleep and a social life.

Marinette and Nino fall into easy conversation about planned playlists for the trip, yet another tradition. They always come up with seriously long-winded titles and, intrepid writer and grammar enthusiast that she is, Alya wants to strangle them sometimes.

She's just glad that there's a character limit on Spotify because after the ' _where-the-hell-are-we-tunes-for-when-nino-inevitably-takes-a-wrong-turn-after-arguing-with-alya-because-of-their-differing-opinions-on-maps_ ' playlist, Alya was prepared to stage an intervention.

She doesn't even know why they need a specific playlist for that, but it exists. Right between ' _we-need-a-coffee-break-soon-because-nino-will-kill-someone-if-we-don't-stop-before-this-playlist-ends_ ' and ' _we-are-going-to-be-stuck-in-traffic-so-this-playlist-is-six-hours-worth-of-the-least-annoying-songs-we-could-think-of_ '.

Alya tunes back into the conversation just as they pull into the car park of Adrien's apartment building. Nino and Marinette are currently planning an ' _alya-is-about-to-get-into-a-fight-with-a-random-stranger-in-another-car-and-we-need-to-distract-her_ ' playlist and, at this point, she doesn't want to know what exactly that entails. Instead of asking, she looks down at her phone.

 **From: my best pal al  
To: The Boyfriend's Husband  
**Dude, we're outside your building.  
In a strictly non-stalkerish way that is.  
Obviously.

Yes, Alya may be an adult but that does not mean that she has outgrown using nicknames for all of her contacts. None of them really have.

 **From: The Boyfriend's Husband  
To: my best pal al  
**I thought I had the restraining order posted last month.

 **From: my best pal al  
To: The Boyfriend's Husband  
**Do you want to see your husband or not?

 **From: The Boyfriend's Husband  
To: my best pal al  
**NINO  
STOP TEXTING ME ALYA YOU'RE DISTRACTING ME  
I NEED TO LEAVE

"Is that my bestest bro?" Nino's ears perk up at Alya's text notifications.

"Yeah, and from the looks of things I suggest you go help him before he hurts himself or breaks something because –"

Nino is out of the car before she can fully complete her sentence. She can hear Marinette chuckling in the background.

"You know, Alya, you might have some competition there."

"Tell me about it, girl." Alya laughs. "Although I will point out that this means that you and Nino are also in competition." She grins slyly; she can practically see Marinette turning beet red already.

"That's different, me and Adrien aren't in a long-term relationship. Or any type of remotely romantic relationship at all." The last part is added somewhat dejectedly.

It's no secret that Marinette has been in love with Adrien since she was fifteen and, whilst the schoolgirl crush vibe has significantly decreased with time, she is still very much in love with him. Alya sighs and presses the phone to her ear, switching off speaker mode.

She and Nino have both agreed to say nothing to Adrien about Marinette's feelings and, although it's been killing her to watch the two of them flit around each other hopelessly, a promise is a promise.

"Mari, I'm telling you. He likes you. Like, like-likes you. He just doesn't know it yet." She's positive about this. There is literally no other explanation that Alya can think of. It's just that Marinette is so quick to dismiss the evidence.

"Who like-likes Marinette?" Shit, she forgot the window was down. Nino appears suddenly to her left, carrying what appears to be twelve packs of Oreos. She hadn't even seen him or Adrien exit the building.

"Someone like-likes Marinette?" Adrien pipes up as he opens the door and slides into the back seat.

"Uh…" Shit.

"Alya is that Adrien?! What the f–"

"Gottagotalktoyouwhenwepickyouuplaterloveyoubyeee!" She clicks the end call button as fast as is humanly possible.

"So, who is it?" Adrien grabs a pack of Oreos from Nino and rips it open. Alya turns around and grabs the pack before he can grab a cookie. "Hey! I haven't had breakfast yet!" He sticks his bottom lip out and pouts. It would have been cute if he was a toddler and not a six foot one model.

"Listen, Model Boy. Firstly, the pouting isn't working so cut it. Secondly, you can't steal my boyfriend and expect me to not steal Oreos." She grabs three cookies from the packet before tossing it back to Adrien. "Thirdly, Oreos are not a nutritional breakfast and you are officially grounded."

Adrien sticks his tongue out at her before biting into a cookie. "I'm a grown man and you can't tell me what to do, Alya."

"Yeah, well I'm older than you." Alya looks down at her phone and begins to shoot a quick text to Marinette, just to reassure her easily panicked friend that Adrien is on to nothing.

 **From: queen of everything  
To: my precious macaron  
**Don't stress, Mari.  
I've distracted Adrien with Oreos.  
Also he's grounded for not eating a proper breakfast.

 **From: my precious macaron  
To: queen of everything**  
thank fuck.

 **From: queen of everything  
To: my precious macaron**  
Watch your language or you'll be grounded too.

"You may be older, but I'm taller." Adrien grins at her in the rear-view mirror. This has been an ongoing joke since forever and frankly, Alya does not appreciate him insinuating that she is short. She's a perfectly average height of five foot seven.

Okay, maybe she's five feet six and a half. But her point still stands. (If she was Adrien she would make a joke about her point standing taller than she does). Alya groans audibly.

"What was that, babe?" Nino asks as he slides behind the wheel.

"Nothing. I just made an Adrien joke in my head and I am disappointed in myself." Alya slumps her head against the window as Nino snorts and high fives Adrien. "I need coffee, like, yesterday."

Adrien pokes the back of Alya's head. "Don't worry, Al. We can hit up Starbucks after we pick up Marinette."

Alya groans again. "I need real coffee. Not one of those frappe-mocha-sugar-overload monstrosities." She's not a coffee snob, but really, Starbucks? "Is there no way we can swing by Tom and Sabine's?"

"The bakery is almost twenty minutes out of the way, Al. If you can deal with Starbucks just for today I'll buy you a pain au chocolat too." Nino promises.

Alya considers this thoughtfully for a good couple minutes before nodding decisively. "Fine. Make it a pain a chocolat and a granola bar and you have a deal."

"Deal."

The drive to Marinette's apartment takes ten minutes longer than it should have because Adrien forgot to lock his apartment and they had to turn back. When they finally arrive, she's sitting on the bench on the pavement just outside her building, sketchbook and pencil in hand, as usual.

Adrien rolls down his window, grinning at the fact that Marinette hasn't even noticed that they've practically pulled up directly in front of her. "Hey, Marinette!" He leans slightly out of the window and waves. "Any new designs?"

"Adrien! Hi! Yes, designs have new! Uh, I mean – I new designs drawn – er, no wait – " Marinette drops her sketchbook and pencils in surprise, stationery flying everywhere as she scrambles to find words. She kicks herself mentally; all she wants is to form one coherent sentence. Does it really have to be this difficult?

Adrien chuckles momentarily before exiting the car to help Marinette collect her things. She hasn't been this awkward around him since their school days and, although he was relieved when she started to act normal around him, part of him has missed this.

"Here," he hands her back her pencil case, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry to startle you like that, Mari."

Marinette smiles back, taking the pencil case and stuffing it into her bag. "It's alright, Adrien. I'm glad you guys finally made it though, I've been sitting out here for almost half an hour now." She directs the latter part of the sentence at Nino, accompanied by a pointed look.

"Again, that was my fault, sorry." Adrien laughs apologetically.

Marinette raises an eyebrow. "Did you forget to lock your apartment like last time?"

His embarrassed nod tells her all she needs to know.

"Whenever you two have finished your conversation, I would still like to hit the road ASAP." Nino calls from the car. He's not frustrated just yet, but Adrien knows that if they hit traffic they'll all get the _This Situation Was Easily Avoidable and You All Ruined It_ speech. It's not a fun speech.

The trip to Starbucks is fairly uneventful. Nino buys Alya her coffee ( _black, one sugar_ , _because at least I can pretend this is real coffee_ ) and her food, which she practically snatches from the barista's hands, as well as an iced caramel macchiato for himself ( _Alya, I'm paying so don't criticise me_ ). Marinette orders a chai tea latte ( _it's the best of both worlds okay? Shut up, Adrien, I'm not basic_ ) and Adrien sticks with hot chocolate ( _because I've only been awake for an hour and a half and I need sugar. A lot of it_ ).

Marinette always maintains that the road trip has never officially started until they reach the highway. Only then do the traditions really begin. Nino's first playlist of choice is ' _all-those-songs-that-we-like-even-though-they-are-awful'_. The 'we' in this case is only Marinette. When the Playlist Committee was first formed they came up with a set of ten rules:

 **The Ten Rules of the Road Trip Playlist Committee**

 **Each Playlist Exectutive is allowed to make one playlist without the other's permission**

 **The other member must allow this playlist to be played at any time, no complaints**

 **There are to be no exceptions to universal karaoke when Carly Rae Jepsen's artistic masterpiece 'Call Me Maybe' is played**

 **Each playlist (apart from the aforementioned excepted permission playlist) must be the result of a team effort**

 **Alya is not allowed to make playlists**

 **All passenger requests must be agreed upon by the Playlist Executives**

 **There will be no Bieber at any time. Ever.**

 **Adrien is only allowed three song requests every hour.**

 **The soundtrack of 'Cats' is not appropriate road trip material. Do not play it, no matter how much Adrien pleads.**

 **Any rules broken will result in immediate termination of the guilty Playlist Executive.**

Marinette is pretty sure that Nino has violated Rule Number 1 already, but she's willing to let it slide because, to be completely fair, she ends up sleeping through a lot of the car journey. It's not like she falls asleep on purpose, it's just that her blanket is super warm and fluffy. Can she really be blamed?

"Alright, my dudes, I officially declare this road trip in motion!" Nino grins as the intro to the _Ghostbusters_ theme fills the car. "We are hitting the highway!"

Alya whips out her camera, snapping a quick selfie of all four of them before turning it onto video mode. "You heard it, folks. The road trip is officially underway! Marseille, here we come! Hey, Mari, say hi to my vlog! You too, Model Boy." Alya shoves the camera into her friends' faces, barely allowing them time to react before yanking it back. "This is gonna be the Best. Trip. Ever!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"This is the Worst. Trip. Ever." Alya folds her arms and sinks even lower into her seat, propping her feet up on the dashboard as she does so. They've been stuck in traffic for around two hours now and she's willing to bet that they've moved about three feet at most.

"Hey, hey, hey! Feet off the dash, Al!" Nino exclaims a little too loudly. "I had the car cleaned last week, there's no way I'm paying for another clean this week!"

"Calm down, Lahiffe. They're just socks, they're not gonna leave footprints or marks or anything." Alya brushes him off and grabs her phone. She might as well scroll through Instagram for the dozenth time, even if it ends up being the same posts that she scrolled through not even twenty minutes ago.

As expected, nothing new has happened since she last checked. She scrolls through the same pictures of Chloé's sushi (artfully taken by Sabrina, of course), Rose and Juleka in Amsterdam, Nathaniel's latest half-completed painting for his upcoming gallery show. Everyone is doing awesome things (apart from Chloé because, in Alya's opinion, there is nothing particularly interesting about raw fish) and Alya is stuck in traffic. She's about to check Snapchat when Adrien suggests that they play 'I Spy'.

"Not that I have anything against 'I Spy', but we're not seven, Adrien." Alya glances at him in the rear-view mirror and it takes all her willpower to look away because he's making _that face_. _That face_ is the face he pulls whenever he really wants someone to agree with him and it's so, so much more powerful than his pouty face. His eyes widen and this childlike grin splits across his face and he looks so much like a stupid baby kitten that Alya just wants to squish him and boop his nose.

Damn her maternal instincts.

"Please, Alya? Pretty pretty please with sprinkles and a cherry on top?"

She resists pointing out that she actually hates cherries and, against her better judgement, agrees. "Fine. We'll play 'I Spy'. But be warned, Agreste. I will end you." If she's gonna play, she's gonna play right.

Adrien does a little happy dance before declaring that he'll go first. "I Spy with my little eye…something beginning with...T?"

"Really, Agreste? T?" Alya throws him a disbelieving look over her shoulder. "It's a tree. You can see trees." She facepalms as he nods sheepishly. "Look, Adrien. I know you didn't really play this game that much as a kid, but come on! You gotta be more original and inventive than that."

Adrien huffs and has a quiet strop while Alya begins her turn.

"…something beginning with…S."

Adrien looks around. "Sky?" Alya shakes her head. "Seat?" Alya shakes her head again. This is turning out to be a lot more difficult than Adrien anticipated. Whenever he had played with Chloé when they were kids she'd always use the same thing: _M for 'Me'! I'm the only thing worth looking at around here, Adrikins._

After fifteen minutes, Alya's already shot down 'seatbelt', 'steering wheel', and 'stereo' and at this point Adrien is losing the will to continue. On the plus side, traffic has started moving so he'll try to focus on the positives.

"Signpost?"

"Nope." Alya responds, popping the 'p' smugly. Adrien scowls as she sticks her tongue out at him.

"Scarecrow?"

"Sun?" Marinette has woken up from her nap at this point. Adrien glances at her and chuckles at the indent on her cheek from the door. She's completely oblivious to this, however, as she rubs her bleary eyes and stretches her arms out, yawning languidly and almost whacking Adrien in the face as she does so.

"You guys are the absolute worst at this, how have you not guessed –"

"Socks." Nino cuts Alya off mid-sentence, smirking at her as he watches all previous satisfaction drain from her face. He shoots her a wink and she squeaks in indignation.

"How –"

"Psychic, babe. C'mon, you know this already, Al." He watches with a sly grin as Alya huffs and crosses her arms, muttering about how her _stupid boyfriend is an idiot and never lets me win anything I should just break up with him now_.

"You know you love me, Al. You're contractually obligated to love me forever and ever and ever."

"And I regret that decision more and more each day."

"Liar." Nino leans over and kisses Alya's cheek, smiling widely as her cheeks flush slightly.

Adrien shakes his head fondly at his two idiot friends in the front seats. They're good for each other, no matter how much they annoy each other, and they fit together so well in a way that Adrien has never really seen before. Healthy relationships haven't exactly been a big part of his life and watching Nino and Alya together gives him just the slightest sliver of hope that maybe, one day, he'll have something just as special. If his eyes happen to flick towards Marinette for even just a couple of seconds, Adrien doesn't dwell on it.

He's so caught up in his thoughts that he doesn't notice Marinette's eyes lingering on him, the same sentiment of hope reflecting in them. By the time he shakes off his reverie and looks over at her properly, the shining look from moments ago has passed and he finds her instead sketching diligently what appears to be a new coat design.

"So, do I get a turn at this game or have we all stopped playing?" Nino asks. "Because I think I could be really good at this, y'know?" He drums his fingers lightly on the steering wheel in a weirdly complex rhythm.

Alya nods begrudgingly, still mumbling under her breath.

"Right, here we go, my dudes. I spy with my little eye something beginning with…"

"HOLY SHIT NINO WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" Alya screams as the car careers close to the central reservation of the motorway and jolts suddenly as Nino suddenly swerves back onto the lane, away from the metal dividing strip.

"I don't think that's a letter, babe. Did you forget the rules of the game?" Nino jokes weakly, trying to cover the situation with some questionable humour.

Alya raises an eyebrow at him, evidently unimpressed. "That's it. Switch with me, there's a service station in ten minutes and I don't want any arguments from you. You've been driving for four hours and you've only had three hours sleep." She pats his knee softly in reassurance.

Nino sighs and agrees, albeit reluctantly.

"Hey, if you want you can switch seats with me so you have more room to nap in the back here?" Marinette suggests. She knows only too well the struggle of staying awake with a sleeping pattern like Nino's. It's part of the reason she naps so much in car journeys; any rest she can get is valuable.

"Thanks, Maribro, I think I'll take you up on that." Nino shoots her a grateful look.

Thirteen kilometres later, they pull into the service station and get out of the car in order to look for food. The road trip snacks have been helpful in keeping them mostly satisfied, but after four hours it's a unanimous decision that they need some real food right about now.

The service station is, to be quite honest, a bit of a dump. Sure, it's got good parking but, other than that, there really isn't anything positive to say about it. Nino sighs. When they had agreed on 'real food', they'd been hoping for more options than just a hotdog stand, a McDonald's, and a Starbucks. And not even a good Starbucks, for that matter.

"I guess there's only really one option then." Nino says as he locks the car, unlocks it, and then locks it again. "What? I do that for security reasons, Mari. Don't look at me like that."

"Remind me again why we decided against packing our own lunch?"

"We didn't decide against packing lunch, Agreste. You just decided against waking up early enough to do so." Alya pokes Adrien in the side.

Adrien gives a long-suffering sigh. "I regret that. I regret that very much."

"I guess now would be a good time to say that I packed lunch for everyone anyway, right?." Marinette chirps, snatching Nino's keys and unlocking the car again in order to grab her picnic basket from the boot. "Impromptu picnic, anyone?"

The looks on her friends' faces are perhaps the funniest Marinette has seen in a while. Alya's face is a mix of relief and 'why-didn't-I-think-of-this', Nino is staring at the picnic basket with what can only be described as adoration (she thinks that he may be drooling slightly), and Adrien- well. Adrien's face has lit up with possibly every happy emotion and he's looking at her in such awe that she thinks she might burst (although she's pretty sure that he is just very hungry and he's really thinking about food).

"Marinette you're a genius! I could just kiss you!" Adrien shouts, racing over to her and throwing his arms around her. Yep. He's definitely just really hungry. There's no way on earth he'd say something like that to her in any normal situation.

Nevertheless, Marinette's face turns a million different shades of red. "Uh, it was – I mean, and well…you know – I – um – no problem, it was – not deal big – Wait! I mean, not a dig beal- big deal! Uh, yeah." Out of the corner of her eye she can see Alya facepalming and Nino laughing hysterically, but she decides to ignore them as she always does when she makes a fool out of herself in front of Adrien. "What I meant to say was, it's not a big deal and, to be honest, I kinda saw this coming." Marinette breathes a sigh of relief, having finally managed to complete her sentence like an actual functioning human being.

The end up sitting inside of the car, passing food around and chatting about nothing in particular. Maybe 'picnic' wasn't exactly the right word for…whatever this is. But, Marinette reasons to herself, they're happy and relaxed and more awake with all the food.

"Bro, chill out with the cheese there, would you?" Nino laughs, slapping Adrien on the back and causing him to almost choke. "Get some variation in your diet!"

"What? I like cheese, okay?" Adrien says, mouth still full. Nobody really knows why Adrien loves cheese so much but it's always been a thing. He says that it's his cat's fault because _Plagg just really loves cheese and I end up buying so much of it that it's all I have in my fridge_.

Marinette has always found this explanation slightly suspicious, since she's pretty sure that she read somewhere that cats are lactose intolerant but, then again, she knows Plagg only too well.

Nino has stopped questioning the Cheese Thing because he has, for a fact, seen that cat devour half a wheel of camembert. It was slightly unnerving the first time it happened but he has since gotten used to Plagg's strange eating habits.

Alya is the only one to make sure that Plagg gets actual cat food. It's not that Adrien doesn't ever buy actual cat food, it's just that he forgets. A lot. But Alya makes sure to buy the massive bags so that Adrien rarely runs out.

Nino, from where he is now seated in the back seat, reaches forward to grab his phone. He clicks onto a playlist and grins to himself. It's a playlist that Marinette doesn't recognise and now she's certain that he's broken Rule Number 1 of the Road Trip Playlist Committee Rulebook. She has reason to believe that this is, in fact, the second time Nino has done so. This has yet to be confirmed. He winks at her and Marinette suddenly has the feeling that Nino knows something she doesn't. She scowls and watches as he grins at her, all his annoyingly perfect teeth on display. Yep. He definitely knows something.

Nino is squealing on the inside as he looks down at his phone. His newest playlist, the 'omg-adrien-is-looking-at-mari-like-/ _that_ /-again-and-it's-so-FRICKING CUTE' one, is currently blasting in the car and, honestly, he never thought he'd see the day. Both Marinette and Adrien are completely oblivious. Which, he supposes, isn't necessarily new with them because he's been trying to get them together for forever and they're too caught up in pining for each other to realise. Maybe Marinette more so than Adrien.

 **From: the idiot I'm in love with  
To: the light of my life  
**AL  
AL  
AL  
AL  
AL  
GUESS WHAT

 **From: the light of my life  
To: the idiot I'm in love with  
**Babe, I'm sitting directly in front of you.  
Why are you texting me?

 **From: the idiot I'm in love with  
To: the light of my life  
**LOOK  
 _FRICKING_CUTE__

 **From: the light of my life  
To: the idiot I'm in love with  
**Are you telling me you made a playlist especially for when Adrien looks at Mari?

 **From: the idiot I'm in love with  
To: the light of my life  
**affirmative  
that is exactly what I'm telling you

 **From: the light of my life  
To: the idiot I'm in love with  
**This is genius.  
But you're still an idiot.

 **From: the idiot I'm in love with  
To: the light of my life  
**go on…say it!11!

 **From: the light of my life  
To: the idiot I'm in love with  
**fine.  
You're my idiot.

Alya groans audibly at the sound of Nino's satisfied laugh. Nevertheless, she smiles and glances back down at her phone. Nino is always so incredibly sweet and she wonders how on earth she managed to get this lucky. Sure, he may cause her to roll her eyes more times in a day than is strictly necessary, but she loves him. It took her a long time to admit that, to both herself and Nino. Far longer than it should have, if she's being honest with herself.

When they first started dating, it wasn't actually on purpose. It was the week after Alya's 16th birthday. The plan had been for all four of them to go to the cinema to see some horror film that she no longer remembers the name of. It was supposed to be a pretty standard hangout, which it was, until Adrien and Marinette both found reasons to back out. Adrien supposedly had a photoshoot and Marinette was apparently given a last-minute shift at the bakery. It was all rather fishy to Alya at the time, but she didn't think anything of it.

She and Nino had never really hung out without either Marinette or Adrien present. It wasn't that they didn't want to hang out without the others, but they'd just never really found occasion to. Of course, it was a little awkward at the start but, they soon found that they had a natural rhythm and that they clicked in a way that they never had before. It wasn't necessarily in a romantic sense, but there was something there.

After the movie, food seemed like the logical option. Nino suggested that they pay for each other's food. "I have a very logical reason for this so we're gonna run this like a lab experiment." He had said as they headed in the direction of the pizza place opposite the cinema. "Here's the hypothesis: by paying for each other's meals, rather than our own, we still have the option to split the bill but we can also still do something nice for the other person. That way I can afford bubble gum tomorrow morning, you can afford coffee tomorrow morning, and we'll still have paid for something that isn't for us."

Alya had readily agreed, as coffee always took priority in her life, and that was that. Nino had walked her home from the bus stop, they'd deliberated over whether or not to hug before eventually settling on a high-five, and then the not-quite-a-date was over. Neither of them really expected anything to happen between them. They were just friends.

The next morning Alya, in what is perhaps still recognised as her most uncharacteristic act, decided to forego her morning coffee from the small café three streets over in favour of buying bubble gum. It was just meant to be something small and nice, to let Nino know that she would be up for hanging out again, if he wanted.

Nino texted her to meet him by the Trocadero. She eventually found him, small-café-three-streets-over-coffee in hand, and the rest was history. She may have fallen a little bit in love with him in that moment. But he is never allowed to know.

"What are you thinking about?" Marinette pokes Alya sharply in the ribs, causing her to jump.

"Nothing important," Alya hisses in pain, rubbing her side and shooting a glare at Marinette. "Just thinking about the not-quite-date."

Marinette giggles. "You are so sappy, you know that, right? You get this weird dreamy look in your eye and I swear I heard you sigh at least twice."

"No way! I'm not sappy, Nino's the sappy one!" Alya huffs. It's true; she is the sappy one. Marinette knows it, Alya knows it, they all know it.

"Oh yeah? Well when is you guys' anniversary, huh?"

"Six days, four hours, and twenty-seven minutes." Alya mumbles, somewhat embarrassed.

"Wait, you seriously remember –"

"I have a countdown on my phone."

Marinette raises an amused eyebrow as Alya turns an even brighter shade of red. She leans over and envelops Alya in a hug.

"You don't need to be embarrassed about it, Al. I think it's cute."

Alya laughs. "Thanks, Mari. I just – it's coming up to five years, you know? And I guess it's just – I don't know. I wanna make it more special this year."

"It'll be great, Alya. Don't worry about it. I will do everything in my power to make sure everything goes perfectly. Scout's honour!" Marinette raises her hand to her head in an overdramatic salute.

"Mari, you were never a Scout."

"It's the thought that counts, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey, guys! So this is the first author's note I've written for this story and I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for the response to this fic! I really didn't expect it to be so great, but it is! Thanks y'all! Sorry this chapter is so delayed, but I've had so much going on with school in terms of deadlines and applying to unis etc. I'm hoping to get CHapter 4 up by next week, but I can't make any promises just yet. By the way, all of Nino and Marinette's playlists mentioned in this fic are actual playlists that exist on my Spotify, danielle9deleon, so maybe check them out if you wanna? That's about it for now, thanks again! - Danielle**

 **EDIT: To the guest reviewer who pointed out the discrepancy regarding Alya's height, thank you so much. I literally updated this last night at like 3am UK time and I completely forgot to proof read for mistakes. Sorry! I know how irritating it is to find those in fics, won't happen again! xx**

 **Chapter 3**

"Nino really needed some rest, huh?" Marinette looks over her shoulder at Nino and Adrien, who are both curled up against each other and snoring in the back seat of the car.

"Yeah, he's had some pretty crazy shifts lately. I barely get to see him awake anymore." Alya laughs somewhat sadly. "He works late and sleeps late, I leave early and end up asleep before he gets in. You know how it is."

Alya's tried not to make a big fuss over Nino's working hours because she knows that he's doing a job he loves and excels at. But she will admit that it's difficult for her to not see him as much as she used to. She misses Wednesday Spaghetti Nights on the sofa watching old horror movies with awful special effects and she misses making pancakes at midnight on Breakfast for Dinner Fridays. She misses going on dates and she misses lazy Sundays just hanging out in pyjamas with hot chocolate.

They've have talked about it a couple times and Nino hates their reduced time together as much as Alya does. The difference is that he also loves his job, and Alya is not about to try to tear him away from it just because she misses him. Besides, it's not like she _never_ sees him, it's just that she sees him less than she's used to and –

"Alya, you know it's okay to miss him, right?" Marinette has been watching Alya chew on her lip and furrow her eyebrows for the last couple minutes. She knows exactly what Alya is thinking. "You don't need to feel bad about it. Your feelings are what they are, you can't help it."

At the back of the car Nino stirs slightly, moving so that his head lolls just above Adrien's shoulder as his hat falls off his head. Alya looks at him fondly in the rear-view mirror and a small smile creeps onto her face.

"Okay then, Miss Relationship Guru," Alya smirks at Marinette. "How about we talk about your love life instead of my petty issues? A certain someone has totally got it bad for you!" Alya cackles as she watches Marinette's face turn beet red in embarrassment.

"Nobody has anything bad for me, Al! Don't make that kind of stuff up." Marinette squeaks, sinking into her seat. She's just glad that Adrien is a heavy sleeper and will (thankfully) hear none of this.

"Come on, Mari. I thought he was meant to be the oblivious one here, not you! The boy has been dropping so many hints and you have thus far failed to see every single one!"

Marinette shakes her head vehemently. Alya's been saying this for years and trying to convince her that Adrien likes her back. Marinette knows he doesn't. If he did in fact like her, wouldn't he attempt to ask her out or at least drop some more obvious hints? God knows she's been so obvious at times that she might as well wave a massive flag saying 'hey there, just so you know I am a little bit in love with you so would you please love me back?' in his face. With sparkles. And all-caps writing. In neon colours. Actually, scratch that. Flashing neon colours.

"I'm not oblivious!"

Alya cocks an eyebrow at her. It's her 'are-you-freaking-kidding-me-right-now' look and Marinette has found herself on the receiving end of said look more and more in the last few years.

"Remember the school trip to London?"

"The one where we lost Juleka and Rose for about three hours and later found them in M&M World?"

"Yeah, that one." Alya laughs.

It had been an eventful trip, they could say that much at least. Aside from the Juleka and Rose thing, there had also been an incident in Harrods where Chloé got into a fistfight with some rich brat over a pair of Valentino pumps that resulted in her eventually being escorted out of the building, screaming that her father would hear about it. On their third day in London, Adrien was stampeded by crazed fans as the class left the Natural History Museum and then on the fourth day, Max and Kim somehow ended up stranded in Piccadilly Circus while the rest of the class was at the National Portrait Gallery. Needless to say, there had been no abroad trips for the class after that.

"It was such a great trip, right? I love London so much, even if we were stuck with all the tourist trap locations." Marinette smiles.

"Yeah, and the four-hour Eurostar journey wasn't too bad either." Alya shoots Marinette a sly glance.

"I mean, you and Nino sure had a blast. You guys were being so mushy I wanted to gag!" Marinette snorts.

"Oh, and you and Adrien weren't being equally as mushy?" Alya retorts. Marinette flushes.

"We weren't being mushy, we were never a couple! And the only reason we were sat together is because a _certain couple_ couldn't bear to be apart for four measly hours and it was a toss-up between me and Chloé!" Marinette pulls a face at Alya and slumps down in her seat.

Alya rolls her eyes. If she remembers correctly, she and Nino had video footage of Marinette and Adrien tangled up together and snoring. Of course, neither of them has ever seen this footage because she's keeping it a secret until their wedding.

"Believe what you will, Mari, but my boyfriend knows his husband very, very well and, from what we saw, Model Boy's intentions were a little more than just platonic, if you catch my drift."

Marinette groans and leans her head against the cool glass of the window. Over the years there were a couple moments in which she'd let herself indulge in the idea that the attraction was mutual. The Eurostar trip was one of them. Adrien had all but dragged Marinette into the seat beside him and immediately began chatting away as if it were no big deal.

 _One hour into the journey he decides that he has to take as many pictures together as possible with as many stupid faces as possible, claiming that he rarely gets to do things like this and he needs to document it. He almost sounds like Alya. He saves every single one, even, much to Marinette's horror, the photos in which she looks like a complete and utter idiot. Of course, he looks great in Every. Single. Damn. Photo._ (Marinette's theory to this day is that a life of modelling has made him permanently photogenic and there will never ever be a bad photo taken of him.)

 _Two hours into the trip, he gets up to go stretch his legs._

" _I don't think you get it, Mari, I'm too tall for these seats. My legs need freedom. We didn't have, like, a million revolutions and behead the king just for me to endure this kind of oppression!"_

" _Are you calling me short?" That's all she could think to say because holy-nickname-Batman he has just called her Mari. This is the first time he has ever in the history of their friendship called her that and Marinette is having a minor breakdown._

" _Seriously? That's your concern?"_

" _I'll have you know that I am 5'6" and I am not short."_

" _Mari, you're 5'5"." Crap, he did it again._

" _Shut up, I'm still above average."_

" _Only by an inch though."_

" _I thought you were going to stretch your legs, you freakishly tall person?"_

" _Mari, I am a very average height. If you think I'm freakishly tall then you kinda just proved me right." This marks three times in one conversation. Perhaps you could call it overkill, but Marinette doesn't care._

 _With that, he flashes her a grin and saunters (he's such a model) down the aisle toward the onboard café._

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _Update 1: I've changed ur contact name from Alyyyybuggg to Al dente pasta  
Update 2: there's a toddler behind me who keeps kicking my seat_

 _ **From: Al dente pasta  
To: Mariiiiibuggg  
**_ _Al dente pasta?  
Really?  
Is this because of the journalism competition?  
Because I swear if that is a fucking pun about my year's supply of pasta prize I will kill you.  
Was this Adrien's idea?  
It was totally his idea.  
Never mind. You are in the clear.  
I know you love him but I swear to God I will bake his head into a lasagne._

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _u didn't let me get to update 3  
also leave Adrien alone and don't bake the love of my life into a lasagne_

 _ **From: Al dente pasta  
To: Mariiiiibuggg  
**_ _Ooooh what's update three?_

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _Alya.  
he cALLED ME MARI_

 _ **From: Al dente pasta  
To: Mariiiiibuggg  
**_ _WHAAAAATTTTTT  
GIIIIIRRRRLLLLLLL_

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _wait for it  
THREE TIMES IN ONE cONverSATION_

 _ **From: Al dente pasta  
To: Mariiiiibuggg  
**_ _HOLY SHITTTTTT  
(babe I love you but your grammar is killing me)_

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _I DONT CARE ABOUT GRAMMAR  
ADRIEN CALLED ME MARI THREE TIMES_

 _ **From: Ninbro  
To: Maribro  
**_ _dude I'm trying to nap and all I can hear is alya squealing  
wtf happened_

 _ **From: Maribro  
To: Ninbro  
**_ _adrien called me mari  
three times  
in one conversation_

 _ **From: Ninbro  
To: Maribro  
**_ _shit dude  
thrice mari-d  
congratz  
anyway  
tell alya to shut up bc she won't listen to me  
goodnight_

 _ **From: Al dente pasta  
To: Mariiiiibuggg**_ _  
Did Nino just tell you to tell me to shut up?!  
I'm gonna kill him._

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg**_ _  
_ _ **To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _let the boy sleeeep_

 _ **From: Adrien  
To: Mari  
**_ _Hey, I'm in the queue at the snack bar. You want anything?  
It's kind of a long queue so you have time to decide :)_

 _ **From: Mari  
To: Adrien  
**_ _oh, um. Idk, depends on how expensive because I'm kind of broke at the moment._

 _ **From: Adrien  
To: Mari  
**_ _Nah, don't worry about that.  
I'm paying :)_

 _ **From: Mari  
To: Adrien  
**_ _WHAT? NO!_

 _Marinette stares at her phone. He isn't responding. She stretches up slightly to scan the carriage and spots Alya and Nino a couple seats ahead. She hazards another glance at her phone but still nothing. Hopefully he's taken her somewhat panicked caps lock texts as a 'No thanks, I don't want anything'. Hopefully._

" _Right so you didn't specify so I grabbed you a hot chocolate and this sweet and salty popcorn. Best of both worlds, right?" Adrien throws the bag of popcorn at Marinette and slides into his seat next to her. He places the hot chocolate down on the folding table in front of her and opens the lid of his coffee, adding two sugars. Marinette stares at him._

" _What? I know you're trying to cut down on the caffeine so I figured hot chocolate was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I am nowhere as motivated as you and I have no intention of kicking my caffeine intake." Adrien takes a sip of his coffee before suddenly wincing. "And there go all of my tastebuds…ouch."_

 _Marinette opens the lid of her cup and blows some of the steam away. "Thanks," she smiles. "But seriously, how much did this total? Let me pay you back, seriously." She leans down and begins rummaging around in her bag. Adrien grabs her hands and pulls them away from her bag, completely stunning her into stillness._

" _I said I'd pay, and I paid. It's no big deal, what are friends for, am I right?" He grins. She watches him intently as he eyes his drink cautiously, attempting another sip while simultaneously looking terrified._

 _ **From: Mariiiiibuggg  
To: Al dente pasta  
**_ _you know that stupid cliché about how you fall in love with someone more and more each day?  
I don't think it's stupid anymore.  
Alya I'm so totally screwed._

Alya still has the screenshot of that last message. She's saving that for the wedding too. She elbows Marinette in the ribs lightly, telling her to stop looking like a lovesick chihuahua.

Once again, they've hit traffic. Alya takes the opportunity to stretch her arms and roll her neck; driving for extended periods of time is not necessarily her favourite thing to do but she'll sacrifice comfort to let Nino sleep. She would let Marinette drive except Nino has henceforth banned Marinette from the driver's seat following the Crash of July 19th (which, in Marinette's opinion was _actually not a crash because I only scratched the car slightly, Nino_ ).

"Kinda busy today, isn't it?" Marinette yawns. She checks her phone. _No new messages. No updates. No alerts._ "Weren't we supposed to be halfway there already?"

"That was the original plan. From what I can tell, we are currently an hour and a half behind schedule." Alya groans. "You know, I had this entire trip planned down to the minute! And now look at us!"

Marinette nods sympathetically. "I know, Al. On the plus side, at least it's not – " Thunder cracks in the darkening skies above before Marinette can finish her sentence. " – raining." Alya shoots her an 'are you serious' look and lets her head drop against the steering wheel with a loud thud, hitting the car horn in the process.

"Shit!" Alya starts up in surprise as Marinette giggles uncontrollably.

The rain starts out as a light drizzle, the droplets scattering across the glass like constellations as it beats softly against the cool windows of the car. The sky turns from a crystal blue to a pale grey as the rainclouds stretch across, moving slowly and heavily. It remains this way for about fifteen minutes before the rain begins to fall harder. It pelts down aggressively, hitting the window panes and rolling down in streams. The gentle patterns formed earlier on the glass blur together until it becomes difficult to see properly.

Alya runs a hand through her hair and turns the window wipers up to a faster setting. As much as she loves the rain, she'd really rather not drive in it; slippery roads tend to make her nervous.

The traffic gradually begins to move again, although at an agonising pace, which both frustrates and relieves Alya. On one hand, she really wishes they could get the hell out of this nightmarish rut in their journey and just make it to Marseille already but, on the other hand, the sluggish speed means that there won't be any asshole drivers trying to force her to speed up in the freakish downpour. She supposes that, in some ways, the positive cancels out the negative so she'll just have to make do and be happy for now.

Adrien stirs slightly in the back seat. He groans slightly as he stretches his arms out (he whacks Nino in the face in the process); he's starting to believe that he is, in fact, too tall to nap comfortably in such a cramped space.

"Are we there yet?" he mumbles groggily as he rubs his eyes.

"Sorry, cupcake, we've hit some more traffic." Alya's really not sure why she feels the need to christen Adrien with these ridiculous pet names. It's just become a Thing she does, despite his being over a foot taller than her. The list has only increased over the years and now includes _sunshine, buttercup, sweetie, My Son, kitty-cat, jellybean_ and, Alya's personal favourite, _Mon Petit Cantaloup_. Nino has started to use _My Son_ and _buttercup_ , which makes Alya prouder than it should.

"If it makes you feel better, you managed to nap for almost two hours." Marinette chirps.

"Yeah, you and your husband, who is supposed to be my boyfriend, looked pretty cosy back there." Alya snorts. "I've got to ask, what is your secret? He doesn't snuggle with me like that anymore."

"Nino likes to be the little spoon," Adrien says sagely. "It makes him feel secure."

"Too bad you're like three feet tall, Al."

"Shut up, Mari! I'm taller than you!"

"Fine. You win this round."

"Well, I have a foot on both of you so I win."

The two girls turn to face him and Adrien is certain that if looks could kill, he would be dead twice over. He grins sheepishly in response and rubs the back of his neck. Thankfully, the traffic starts moving and Alya is forced to turn her attention back to the road. Marinette narrows her eyes at him once more before she too turns to face the road.

Adrien can't be certain but he swears that there is something in the way she looks at him, even when annoyed at him, that surpasses everything. He's only really started to notice it recently, but for a fleeting moment he is sure of it. Upon reflection, he decides that he is deluding himself. There's no way. Marinette is just a really good friend. That's all.

As she turns back to the front of the car, Marinette gulps slightly. There was something strange about the way Adrien has been looking at her recently. Not strange in a _bad_ way, but strange in a _new_ way. His expression seems softer and there's something different reflected in his eyes. For a second she thinks – no. In her head, she laughs at herself. She's just projecting her own feelings onto him, she rationalises. He just sees her as a friend. That's it.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm sorry this has taken me so long to upload! Trust me to pick the Worst Possible Time to start writing a multi-chapter fic...whoops. I'm just gonna take now to thank you all for your reviews! I can't respond to all of them personally (although I may start doing that, idk yet) but I have read every single one multiple times because they're all so lovely! I'm really sorry that I can't promise a regular update schedule, but I am trying my best to write content that I'm happy with and that I hope you will be happy with; I'd rather focus on the quality of the chapters rather than how quickly they're published, you know what I mean? Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Here's Chapter 4, hope you guys enjoy it! - Danielle**

 **Chapter 4**

At Alya's suggestion, they decide to make a few scenic stops along the way to Marseille. She figures that this way they'll get to see a little more of the non-Paris edition of France as well as have time to relax and break from the intense driving. Or at least Alya needs a break, especially after the last tortuous forty-five minutes.

The traffic had, thankfully, dissipated and they were finally on the move again driving at just over 100km/h. It was great; they were more energised, they were blasting The Lion King soundtrack, Nino and Adrien were scream-shouting a load of nonsense that only vaguely resembled the actual lyrics, and Marinette had control of the camera, collecting footage for Alya's blog.

" _Smile, Nino!" Marinette giggles, zooming in ridiculously close to Nino's face. He grins, crossing his eyes and holding up a peace sign as he and Adrien continue to dramatically re-enact the entire Circle of Life scene from The Lion King as best they can in the somewhat cramped backseat of the car._

 _Marinette turns the camera to Adrien next and he sticks his tongue out at her. Marinette huffs. In true Adrien fashion, he still manages to look abso-fucking-lutely perfect. Curse that flawless face of his. Curse that gorgeous hair of his. Curse – actually no, scratch that. He's too beautiful to be cursed. Marinette sighs audibly, oblivious to Alya's slight snickering from the driver's seat._

" _You okay there, Mari?" Adrien's question snaps her out of her little space out and she promptly turns red, for perhaps the umpteenth time today alone._

" _Me? Yes of course! You're great! I mean – you're fine! NO. That is to say, I'm fine. Not to say that you're not fine because of course you are, right? You're a model! Um…but of course you already know that…why wouldn't you know that….ha."_

 _Adrien glances at Nino, eyebrows raised questioningly. Nino simply shrugs in return._

" _How about we pretend I never opened my stupid mouth, okay?" Marinette laughs nervously, swiftly turning around in her seat to face the front. "Kill me." She mouths to Alya before she buries her flushed face in her hands._

 _In a valiant effort to change the subject, Nino decides that now is the perfect time for a playlist brainstorming session. "So Maribro. I was thinking that we add a new playlist to our repertoire."_

 _Marinette swivels around again in her chair (making a great effort to avoid making eye contact with Adrien as she does so) to face Nino. "As much as I'd love to, I'm pretty sure you have violated the Playlist Rules, specifically rule number one, on more than one occasion."_

 _Nino gulps audibly._

" _As a result of this disregard for the sacred rules," Marinette continues. "I, as sole rule-abiding Playlist Executive, do henceforth revoke your Playlist Executive licence until further notice." She grins smuggle and winks at him before spinning back around again in her chair._

" _But that makes it a playlist dictatorship! I will not stand for this kind of oppression! Libert_ _é_ _,_ _é_ _galit_ _é_ _, fraternit_ _é_ _! Vive la France!" Nino presses his fist to his heart in what is supposed to be a patriotic manner. In fact, he gets a little too enthusiastic and winds up punching himself in the process._

 _Marinette retorts back that if Nino was so in favour of democracy then he would abide by the agreed rules. The argument (that is, if it can be called an argument) goes on for another couple minutes before Alya decides that it's time to intervene. Honestly, if she had known that she would end up playing peacemaker between two apparent five-year-olds, she would not have signed up for this job._

 _In her sharp 'I-am-in-charge-and-you-will-not-question-my-authority' tone (which the past ten years of babysitting her sisters has allowed her to perfect), Alya declares that Nino is on Playlist Time-Out indefinitely, Marinette is Chief Playlist Commander, and Adrien is Assistant Playlist Consultant. She herself refuses to be part of this playlist nonsense because, frankly, there is nothing wrong with just hitting shuffle and seeing where they end up. The highly specific playlist names fiasco is just ridiculous, in Alya's humble opinion._

 _Nino protests, claiming that the rules specifically ban Adrien from any playlist-related activities, to which Marinette points out that Nino cannot hold such a gross double standard concerning rule breaking, and Alya feels her eyes roll so hard that she's pretty sure she will soon be able to see the inside of her skull._

" _Everyone shut the hell up or so help me god I will turn this car right around and we will all go straight home!" Alya yells. She figures that this trick still works on her younger sisters, even though they're now teenagers, so it's worth a try._

 _The car falls silent and, surprisingly, it remains like that for the better part of fifteen minutes._

 _Alya breathes deeply and smiles serenely. "See? Was that so difficult? All you have to do is keep calm, breathe, and- FUCKING HELL, YOU MORON! WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU'RE DRIVING, ASSHOLE! USE YOUR FREAKING TURN SIGNAL! I SWEAR TO GOD I CAN'T CATCH TWO MINUTES OF PEACE! OH, YOU WANNA FLIP YOUR MIDDLE FINGER AT ME?! TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME, BUDDY!"_

 _Marinette and Nino exchange knowing looks and Marinette slams the play button on the 'we-need-to-distract-alya-otherwise-she-will-get-into-a-fight' playlist. All the while Adrien looks a little terrified in his corner of the car. He really shouldn't be surprised at Alya's outbursts, but he's always slightly shocked that so small a person can house all of that tension. Sometimes he can practically see the steam coming out of her ears as if she was a cartoon character._

 _Alya scowls at the idiot who is now driving in front of her and grips the steering wheel until her knuckles turn white. If there's one thing she cannot stand, it's reckless drivers. People make mistakes every now and again when they drive, that's just natural – Alya gets that. But this idiot was just blatantly ignoring all driving etiquette. Nothing pisses her off more than that._

" _Hey, we're coming up to Saint-_ _É_ _tienne, how about we take a break?" She suggests. Everyone is only too happy to comply._

Saint-Étienne is quite pretty, Marinette decides. They grab some pastries at a local café and make their way to the public gardens in the centre of the town, looking out at the architectural bandstand structure, taking in the calm atmosphere, and revelling in its stark contrasts to the hustle and bustle of Paris. Nino and Alya decide to take a walk around the gardens, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone on the bench.

"Can you imagine how awesome it would be to see an actual band playing on the stand?" Adrien grins. Marinette nods in agreement; it really would be a sight. "I can see it so clearly in my head," Adrien continues. "Either a jazz-swing-blues band or an orchestra, I haven't quite decided yet, and fairy lights – actually no, lanterns – strung up everywhere, people dancing around. It would be great."

Marinette rests her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. "Sounds like quite the visual you've thought up there," she smiles. "It sounds really nice." She does her very best to not imagine that very image in the context of their wedding. _Reel it in, Mari. Don't do this again._

Adrien stretches his arms out. There's a little voice in his head telling him to pull the cliché fake-yawn move so that he can rest his arm around Marinette's shoulder but he tells this voice to shut up and folds his arms behind his head instead.

"I feel like Alya needs a break from driving." Marinette says, between bites of her pain-au-chocolat. "I think she's hit her limit."

Adrien nods, sipping his coffee. He winces as he feels his taste buds disappear and is hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia. "Hey, Mari, remember that school trip we took to London?" That trip will always remain one of his favourite memories. It was the first time his father had actually willingly trusted him with some independence, encouraged it, actually.

"Yeah, that was a great trip." _Play it cool, Mari. Cool, collected, no squealing._

"I just got hit with some major déjà vu," he laughs. Marinette loves his laugh; his eyes go all sparkly and they crinkle at the edges. She still doesn't hear him laugh enough, but she's glad that it's becoming a more frequent occurrence. "Remember being stuck with me the whole train ride there and back?"

"Oh my gosh, how could I forget? You practically force-fed be overpriced snacks and wouldn't let me pay you back!" Marinette pokes him in the shoulder accusingly in mock outrage.

"Well I wasn't going to let you starve, was I? And besides, from what I remember you declared that you were 'willing and ready to just marry this popcorn already'." He pokes her right back.

"Don't use my own words against me!" Marinette huffs, folding her arms across her chest and sinking slightly into the bench. Adrien simply smirks at her and _holy frick_ he should not be allowed to be that hot. Granted, he is a model and she is fully aware of that but, nevertheless, _he should not look that fricking hot._ In a strange moment of self-control, she does not blush and instead opts for sticking her tongue out at him like the mature adult she is.

Adrien is somewhat taken aback by Marinette's sudden ability to stay cool and flirt back (yes, he will allow himself to believe that she is flirting) with him. He watches as she quirks her eyebrow before sticking her tongue out at him (her nose scrunches up in this really cute way) and he is struck with the realisation that Marinette manages to look both _freaking adorable_ and actually kind of hot at the same time. He gulps slightly, turning slightly red when Marinette looks at him questioningly, and silently berates himself. The tables have really turned this time.

In an attempt to distract herself from the fact that she not only flirted shamelessly with Adrien Agreste but succeeded in making him bush, Marinette looks up at the sky. Adrien watches her as she squints at a cloud and chews her lip slightly and he finds himself having to also look up at the sky before his imagination runs away with him.

"Is it just me or does that cloud look like a duck wearing high-heels?" Marinette wonders aloud.

For a second Adrien simply stares at Marinette incredulously. The thought is so abstract and outright weird that he then bursts out laughing. "What?" he manages to spit out in between wheezes of laughter. "A duck wearing – how?"

"I'm being totally serious, Agreste." Marinette deadpans. "Look, if you tilt your head that way and then quint your eyes very, very slightly." Adrien does as she says and actually, it does kind of look like a duck wearing high-heels. He'll give her that one, even if it is bizarre.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a ball flies towards them. A small girl, maybe about six or seven, stands a little way away, calling out an apology and running towards them although unable to outrun the ball.

"Adrien, watch your head!" Marinette exclaims, skilfully volleying the ball in the direction of the girl from where she's awkwardly sitting, half-twisted to face the girl, on the bench. The girl runs closer to catch the ball and thank Marinette.

"Thanks! That was really cool!" The girl gushes to Marinette, tucking the ball under her arm and brushing her messy bangs from her eyes. She grins widely and Marinette chuckles at the fact that she's missing a tooth. "Hey, aren't you the guy who's on the front of all those magazines? My sister Alma has all those magazines and posters and I'm pretty sure she's in love with you. I'm Jaqueline, by the way. I guess I'll tell Alma that she's out of luck because your girlfriend is way prettier than she is and she just saved your life, and your face too, I guess. My sister's over there by the way, I should probably get back. Do you think you could teach me how to do that? Alma is too busy writing her essay. I don't get why she would come outside just to write an essay, she said it was something about 'changing her environment' or something."

Marinette flushes red for a second but quickly recovers. She's always amazed by how much kids can just talk and talk and talk. She's also a little startled by how fearless this kid is; didn't anyone teach her about stranger danger?

"Okay, Jaqueline," Marinette begins. "How about you run back to your sister and bring her over here?" Marinette suggests. She leans in to whisper conspiratorially to the child. "That way, Alma can meet my friend Adrien over here, who's not my boyfriend, and I can teach you to volley. Sound like a plan?" She grins as Jaqueline nods in affirmation and skips back to where her sister sits.

A short while later, after a particularly shrill shriek from where Jaqueline and Alma are, Adrien is looking slightly uncomfortable but more or less calm as Alma squeals and talks and then squeals some more. He's used to the fangirl culture, but it's been a while since he's had to listen to a star-struck seventeen-year-old tell him facts about…well…himself. For the most part, Alma is nice though. He glances over to where Marinette is teaching Jaqueline to volley. He didn't know she was so good with kids, he's really in awe of her, to be completely honest.

Marinette catches Adrien's glance and smiles, shrugging her shoulders slightly. She turns her attention back to Jaqueline, who stands a few feet away. "You want to make sure that your hands are firmly interlocked when you volley. If your stance is strong, your volley will be strong. If you don't have that control, you won't be able to get the ball as high as you want. Got it?"

"Got it." Jaqueline sticks her tongue out in concentration, readying herself as Marinette gently volleys the ball towards her. The first couple attempts are disastrous and Adrien finds himself ducking a great deal, except for one unfortunate occasion on which the ball hits him square in the face. Marinette laughs. A lot.

After about twenty minutes, Alma, somewhat mournfully, decides that it's time for them to go. Marinette and Adrien bid the two girls goodbye, agreeing to take a picture with them before they leave, before settling on the grass to continue cloud watching.

Across the gardens, Alya and Nino sit on the edge of the fountain, hands intertwined and Alya's head resting on Nino's shoulder. Nino smiles fondly down at her and his heartbeat speeds up ever so slightly. Even after five years of dating he's still as lovestruck as he was as a teenager, maybe even more so.

He wants to do something special for Alya this year, especially seeing as last year their anniversary celebration consisted of ordering an extra-large pizza and watching reruns of _I Love Lucy_. He has nothing against _I Love Lucy_ , per se; after all, it was helping Alya with her English fluency for her internship, but it wasn't necessarily how he imagined their anniversary would be spent. He's thinking something a little fancier this year, something a little more meaningful.

Sometimes he's not sure how he got so lucky but he figures it's best not to question it. If this is what the Universe wants for him he'll happily take it.

"You're quiet, everything okay?" Alya nudges him and lifts her head off his shoulder to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm great, babe," Nino presses a kiss to her temple. "Just contemplating whether or not I can successfully push you into this fountain without getting dragged in myself."

Alya snorts and swats him away. She knows Nino too well at this point; when he gets quiet like that it means he's thinking about something serious. Lord knows he can't keep his mouth shut for more than two minutes under normal circumstances. Her eyes rest on some squirrels chasing each other around, scrambling up and down tree trunks and darting in between the fence and she wishes that, for even just a couple moments, her life could be that carefree.

"I feel like that would be us if we were animals," Nino muses. Alya hums, she's not sure if squirrels are really how she'd describe them but she'll go with it. "Squirrels? What squirr- oh. No, I was looking at those two pigeons over there. They're fighting over bread." Nino says seriously, pointing at the birds a little behind the squirrels. Alya gives him the most disbelieving look she can.

"You're impossible."

"Excuse you, I thought it was incredibly romantic!"

"Remind me why I haven't broken up with you yet?" Alya stands and begins walking back around the fountain in the direction of the bench they left Marinette and Adrien sitting at, removing her glasses to wipe them clear from where the fountain spray spattered them and muttering about how _if the anniversary goes anything like this the relationship it over._

"Al, you love me." Nino jogs to catch up with her, grabbing her hand and swinging their arms back and forth.

Alya snatches her hand back and shoots him a pointed look. "You called me a pigeon."

"Yes, but I also called myself a pigeon. Haven't you seen _The Notebook_? If you're a bird, I'm a bird?"

Alya's jaw drops. "You just – what – Nino…" For the first time in a long time, Alya is left speechless. (She will admit that she is a little impressed that he just quoted _The Noteboook_ at her, but she is not impressed enough to get off her high horse).

She storms her way all the way back to the bench, huffing very audibly. Marinette and Adrien look up from where they are now lying on the grass, completely absorbed in their cloud watching. Alya's eyes instantly focus on where their hands are resting on the ground, mere millimetres apart from brushing, before zoning back in to their upper body language. Adrien's left arm is bent at the elbow and his head rests on his hand. His body is ever so slightly turned towards Marinette and hers to him, her right hand resting lightly on her stomach. They have absolutely no idea how cute they look; to a stranger they could be just any other couple sharing a romantic afternoon looking up at the sky. Alya makes a solemn vow that she will get them together, even if she dies trying. (Okay, that might be a little dramatic but, then again, when is it ever not dramatic with these two?)

"So, uh, how was the walk?" Adrien asks, shifting slightly so that he is facing Alya a little more.

"It was…interesting," she responds as she sits on the grass beside them. "Nino compared me to a pigeon."

Marinette blinks at Alya a couple times, not really sure how to respond to this. Adrien turns his head to look at Marinette seemingly trying to find out how he should react to this information. Upon seeing Marinette's confused look, Adrien is satisfied that he is also allowed to look appropriately confused.

"I also quoted _The Notebook_ , Al. Don't forget that bit." Nino sinks down to the ground and wraps an arm around Alya's shoulder, placing an over-exaggerated kiss on her cheek with a loud smack.

"Really, Nino? Nicholas Sparks? No wonder she stormed over here with a literal black cloud over her head." Marinette scoffs as she props herself up on one elbow. From beside her Adrien gulps slightly and hopes to God that she didn't hear him.

"Yeah, whatever, Mari. At least I tried, don't I get points for effort?"

"Not this time, bro." Marinette rolls onto her back with a smirk.

"Dammit."

"We left you some snacks," Adrien decides that changing the subject might be a good idea. "I had to physically restrain Mari from eating them all."

Marinette rolls her eyes. Yes, in theory he _had_ physically restrained her, but she wasn't going to eat them _all_ per se. Even then, his version of 'physically restrain' was in fact 'snatch pastry out of Marinette's hands and keep box far away from her'.

Alya and Nino stretch out on the grass beside Marinette and Adrien, munching on the leftover pastries. Nino muses aloud that this is almost like a double-date, which results in much coughing and blushing from Marinette and Adrien, and Alya responds in kind, lamenting the fact that this is not a double-date.

Double-date or not, the four of them spend the next hour pointing out particularly strangely shaped clouds, laughing their way into the early evening. They've had a little drama along the way, but Alya reckons that this road trip is definitely starting to look up. She curls into Nino's side as the air begins to cool. He may have called her a pigeon and quoted the cheesiest film on earth to her, but she loves him.

Also he's warm.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** **I'M SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN AWAY FOR SO LONG AND THIS HAS TAKEN LITERALLY OVER SIX MONTHS. Really, I did not pick the best time to start a multi-chapter fic and, to be completely honest with y'all, there were a couple months where I could've been writing after school calmed down a little but I had no ideas/motivation/etc and then by the time I got some school stress basically enveloped me again. So, again, I'm so sorry! But I promise I'm not abandoning this fic. I'm hoping to be able to get in an update a week from now on although I'm not making any *solid* promises. Thank you so much if you're still reading! I appreciate y'all so much! - Danielle xx**

 **Chapter 5**

"Babe, ten miles to go!" Alya spots the road sign from the tiny screen on her camera. As the other three spot the sign in canon, there is a small chorus of whoops and shouts as the relief and excitement settles in. It's been a great trip so far, but it's been tiring. And there is absolutely no doubt about that.

"Guys, I know you have an itinerary and everything, but I have a proposal," Adrien pipes up from the back seat, where his head is currently buried in Marinette's bag looking for more snacks. Marinette eyes him as he helplessly rummages around before taking pity on him and snatching away the bag, throwing the container of grapes in his direction with a roll of her eyes.

"And what exactly is this suggestion?" Alya is always a little touchy when it comes to altering The Itinerary, and they've already done so multiple times today.

"Airbnb, shower, movie, sleep." Adrien pops a grape into his mouth and grimaces as the sourness hits him. Marinette giggles as he shoots her what is supposed to be a death glare but, in reality, is just a ridiculous scowl that only fuels her laughter.

Alya thinks about this for a second. On one hand, they have been driving for hours and it really would be nice to be able to relax and chill out in a stress-free environment. On the other hand, she had been hoping to do a little exploring of the city and get used to the area surrounding their accommodation before their stay really gets underway. After taking a couple seconds to weigh up the pros and cons of each option, it's ultimately the pleading look Nino shoots her that is her deciding factor. She leans over and kisses his cheek before turning back to Adrien and to concede that the amendment to the itinerary is perhaps the best plan. Grabbing the first pen she can find in the seemingly endless vacuum that is her backpack, Alya rearranges her written out itinerary.

Alya's travel journal is a sleek blue Moleskine that she impulse-bought online a couple years ago whilst on a caffeine-induced stationery shopping spree before starting her degree. As with the other four empty notebooks she already had lying in a forgotten drawer in her desk, she had had no idea what to what to do with it for the longest time.

It started off with the itinerary for their first road trip written in her signature scrawling handwriting with a half-working black ball-point pen, a couple smudges here and there from writing whilst on the bumpy metro ride into the heart of Paris. On the journey back, she decided to create a packing list, doodling a small camera and some sunshades to perk it up. Really, she hadn't thought that journaling would be something she got really into but sometimes it's nice to have a creative outlet. At least, that's how she justifies spending arguably too much money on fancy ink pens and cute stickers.

Marinette leans forward to watch Alya drag her pen across the page, forming loopy curling letters in an almost transfixing manner. There's not a single mistake; everything is seamlessly laid out on the page, despite the sudden jerks and bumps from potholes in the road, in a manner of professionalism that really is a testament to Alya's perfection of this skill over the years, a manner of professionalism that Marinette can only hope to attain one day; she really is more of a frantic-scribbles-and-ink-blots-everywhere kind of person. The jet-black ink stains the ivory paper as Alya sets their new itinerary in place, opting to leave the original itinerary page in place rather than cross it out and adding a note in red in the free left-hand corner that reads 'Overridden'.

They pull up to the Airbnb within about 20 minutes after stopping to grab some ice cream from a cute café that Marinette makes a mental note to revisit at some point to check out the macarons she saw in the window.

The house is without a doubt everything Marinette pictured for this kind of trip; it's sort of rustic looking with gorgeous wooden blue shutters over all the windows and doors and its location, a short stroll from the sea, is perfect. Marinette grins to herself as Nino shuts off the engine and they begin to unload the car. For her, this trip is going to be all about relaxing and trying to be herself instead of this zombie that her intense schedule has turned her into. She looks over at Adrien, who has a similarly ecstatic look on his face, and her smile only grows wider.

"Mari, can you run over to the neighbour to grab the keys?" Alya calls from the back of the car, somehow already wedged between suitcases trying to reach the smaller bags that Nino haphazardly stuffed into the boot earlier. She really should stop trusting sleep-deprived Nino to be organised. Marinette shouts back that she's on her way and jogs over to the cottage next door. The neighbour, Caline, is smiley and lovely, with her almost startlingly red hair and green eyes. She checks that their trip was alright and that they're all okay, asking a million and one questions in order to do so, before handing over the keys. She assures Marinette that she'll be around most evenings should they need anything and, with one last smile, she disappears behind her own rustic red door.

"Right, team, keys have been obtained!" Marinette jingles said keys over her head triumphantly. They get stuck in the door briefly on her first attempt to use them but, after a couple tries and a particularly unhelpful commentary from Nino ("I don't think it's working."), the door is open.

"So…this is very blue." Adrien observes, looking around at the décor of the place.

"Problem?" Alya raises an eyebrow at him.

"No, not at all. I think it's very nice, I'm a fan." He nods in the same way that someone who knows a lot about interior decoration would, even though he knows nothing about interior decoration. "I like the calmness, the neutral tones really make the blue pop, y'know?"

"Adrien, honey," Alya slings an arm over his shoulder. "Shut up."

Adrien, rolling his eyes, shakes Alya off and begins to haul his bags upstairs as he calls dibs on picking his room first. Watching him attempt to lug his suitcase and backpack upstairs simultaneously turns out to be more entertaining than Alya expected, especially considering that his backpack is open and things keep falling out, prompting him to attempt to pick them up which only results in more things falling out.

After revelling in his failure for a couple minutes Alya decides that she may as well help; she can see his laptop beginning to slide precariously close to the opening of the backpack and, although Adrien is a literal goldmine and could probably afford several laptops, it's probably more convenient to save the one he currently has. She makes it up about three steps before she has a tiny brain spark. It's more of a Tiny Camping Flashlight Moment than a full on 100-Watt Lightbulb Moment but it's still something.

"Hey, Mari?"

There's a muffled yelp followed by a slightly worrying _clang-bang-crash_ from the kitchen. A metal saucepan lid rolls across the terracotta kitchen tiles onto the wooden floor of the main hallway and spirals noisily to a stop before Mari slowly pokes her head around the kitchen doorframe and squeaks back a response: "Yeah?"

"Nino and I are running to the store around the corner because we need…supplies! Quick grocery run whilst I have the list in my head. Can you come help Sunshine Boy with his bags? The fool is having a Moment." With that she makes a quick U-turn on her heels and starts a beeline for the front door, grabbing a slightly surprised Nino in the process.

"We going somewhere?"

"Out."

"Uh, alright just let me grab my hat and then-"

"Nope." The door slams behind them and Nino's red baseball cap falls off the hook on the back of the door onto the floor.

As she drags a still-confused Nino down the cobble-stone street towards the nearest convenience store, Alya begins formulating Operation Get-Mari-And-Sunshine-Boy-Together. So far, the operation is still in the works and, really, it's more of a make-it-up-as-you-go-along kind of thing.

 **Operation-Get-Mari-And-Sunshine-Boy-Together:  
** 1\. Leave them alone together.  
2\. Keep leaving them alone together.  
3\. Nino, I haven't thought this far ahead please help.

So yeah, the plan still has a long way to go.

As a still-confused Nino is dragged down the cobble-stone street towards the nearest convenience store, he begins formulating Operation Propose-To-Alya-In-A-Way-That-Isn't-Stupid. This operation is, he'll admit, not very well thought out.

For as long as Nino Lahiffe can remember, he's been staunchly Against Marriage. That's not to say that he's against it entirely, he just never thought it was really for him and, until recently, was very happily a part of the 'I-don't-need-a-piece-of-paper-to-certify-my-love' club. Even now he's still of the firm opinion that a piece of paper is entirely unnecessary when it comes to matters of the heart and all that because really, love for love's sake is enough for him. Sidestepping swiftly to avoid the lamp post that Alya is about to inadvertently drag him into in her haste, Nino looks down at their joined hands and he can't help but start grinning like crazy. Call him lovestruck but he's still absolutely and completely smitten and that's all the incentive he needs.

 **Operation Propose-To-Alya-In-A-Way-That-Isn't-Stupid:  
** 1\. Still pending

Taking his mind off of the as of yet undeveloped operation, Nino resolves to look around the place a bit. After all, Alya did want to do some exploring in order to get familiar with their surrounding area and this is the perfect opportunity to do just that. He carefully detangles his fingers from Alya's and wraps his arm around her shoulder to slow her down in her unreasonably frantic quest to reach the convenience store.

"Hey, Al, slow down," he laughs. "We're not exactly pressed for time, are we?"

Alya leans into him and lands a kiss on his cheek. She isn't really a big PDA fan but sometimes impulse grabs hold of her and runs with it and all she can do is go along with it.

"I may have been slightly confused earlier but I've clocked on, Al. Babe, I know you've committed to playing matchmaker for those two but you need to chill out sometimes, y'know?"

The grey clouds in the distance move further away from them, rolling slowly along the sky and revealing the evening sun. A warm kind of glow seems to settle in around them but, to be completely honest, Nino isn't sure if that's because of the weather or just because of how insanely content he is, oxymoronically.

"Chill out? How am I supposed to chill out when they're so obviously perfect for each other and too stupid to do anything about it?"

"You know they're adults, right? As much fun as it is to jump on that bandwagon with you for the jokes, it really is up to them whether or not they get together."

Alya huffs and rolls her eyes. "I really hate when you use actual logic and reason against me. It's super irritating."

Nino pats her condescendingly on the shoulder. "I know, it's okay."

Sometimes Alya really cannot believe how lucky she got with Nino. The list is seemingly endless; he's cute, he balances out her manic with his chill, he can handle her crazy nocturnal habits, he's funny, he's a good pillow/footrest/chair/insert other furniture piece here, he loves her. She really did luck out and it's something that hits her repeatedly throughout the day.

Except for right now. Right now, he's being an annoyingly smug twerp and, for that, she elbows him lightly in the ribs, producing a satisfying 'oof' from the twerp in question.

"What was that for?!"

"You were being a twerp."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Al, shut up."

The surprise kiss definitely catches Alya off-guard and, although she really hates over the top PDA, she really doesn't hate what's happening right now. Although thinking about it, her lips are a little chapped and damn, hindsight really is a bitch but Nino's hands on either side of her face are all she can focus on at the moment.

She pulls away slightly, just to ensure that they don't become that couple that _everyone hates_ , but keeps her arms locked around Nino's neck. "You're not gonna just resort to kissing me to shut me up now are you, Lahiffe?"

"I wasn't going to but seeing as you tip-toed into it, maybe you didn't mind it all that much." He boops his nose against hers and Alya is, at this point, completely lost for words except for 'shut up, you idiot'. So that's what she says.

Alya wanders if Marinette and Adrien have managed to sort out the whole suitcase debacle.

The answer to that is no, they have not.

After saving Adrien's laptop and helping him transfer all stray belongings into the room behind the first door on the left, Marinette resolves to grab her own stuff and start unpacking. Upon checking out the rest of the upstairs area, however, Marinette quickly comes to the conclusion that there are only two bedrooms in this Airbnb; one with a double bed and one with two single beds. And Adrien has currently set up shop in the latter.

Marinette shuts the door to the double bed room and lets her head fall against the door with a thud that, to Adrien's ears in the next room over, sounds painful. Because it is.

"Of course," Marinette mutters to herself. "Alya just will not let me live – she never does – and for crying out loud, the freaking Airbnb! Why am I not even surprised? What a traitor…I can't believe her, honestly -"

"Mari?" Adrien hasn't heard Marinette do her weird frustrated frantic muttering thing in a while. It means she's stressed about something.

"YES!" Marinette squeaks. Or, more like she squawks…. "Err, I mean – yeah?"

"Everything okay?"

"Uhh, yes! Everything is, erm, peachy-keen, fine and dandy, the bee's knees, the cat's meow – err – the cat's pyjamas? I, uh, I'm running out of expressions to use…"

"Right…"

"So, um, how are we organising the whole bedroom thing?" Marinette tugs the hairband on her wrist and starts braiding her hair up in an attempt to distract herself with something – anything. She knows exactly what he's about to say and as the words 'we can share' leave his lips, Marinette freaks out.

Having reached her early twenties, Marinette Dupain-Cheng should not be freaking out this much over a boy. Yes, he is a boy that she has been in love with for almost ten years now, but still – he's just a boy. There is absolutely no good reason for her brain to be short-circuiting in the way that it is at this current moment, and yet she cannot figure out how to turn off the panic.

 _He's a boy. Just a boy. He's just Adrien. Adrien whom you have known since you were fifteen._ _With whom you've been in love with for ten years…_ _No! Stop it, Marinette. Pull your damn self together. Okay. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Come on. Just smile and then nod. Two simple actions; you can do this._

So, she does. Marinette Dupain-Cheng slides into autopilot mode, straightens her back, nods her head, and smiles widely at Adrien Agreste. She manages to say something along the lines of 'sure, that sounds good' and then strolls (yes, she freaking strolls like it's a damn walk through the damn park) towards where she abandoned her suitcase and backpack.

And then she strolls right past Adrien Agreste, model extraordinaire, and into their now shared bedroom, effortlessly toting her bags behind her. Who is this person and what has she done with the real Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Marinette has no clue, but she sure as hell doesn't mind it.

 **From: my precious macaron  
To: queen of everything  
**you know ily and everything but right now you are the fucking worst xox

Alya checks her phone right as the text pops up and Nino will swear on his life that he has never seen his girlfriend grin as wide as she is currently grinning.

 **From: queen of everything  
To: my precious macaron  
**love you babe xx

"That Alya?" Adrien asks as he begins to grab stuff from his backpack.

It's all general stuff: headphones (a must-have essential), gum (the must-have essential that everyone forgets), the book he's currently reading (something to do with the history of spies and detectives which Marinette hopes is the explanation behind Adrien's as of yet unexplained collection of fake moustaches and other comical disguises, which he thankfully has not brought with him), sunblock (the boy tans faster than ice cream melts in the midsummer sun), laptop (because he insists on working even though they're on holiday), custom plushie of his cat – Plagg – that he takes everywhere with him (he insists it's a good luck charm or something but Marinette thinks he just misses his cat), and, finally, phone charger (which really doesn't warrant an explanation, does it?).

"Yep, she and Nino are just wandering if there's anything specific we need but I think we're good, right?" Marinette flops back onto her bed as Adrien nods affirmatively. "I am abso-fucking-lutely exhausted." She sighs.

"You literally sat in the back of the car for the entire journey," Adrien laughs. Marinette sticks her tongue out at him as he walks round the bed to shove his bag down the side next to the wall. "Why don't you unpack or something? Maybe being productive will energise you."

Marinette doesn't respond with actual words, instead opting to bury her face under her pillow and grunt.

"What if I bribe you with the Oreos I have left over?"

Marinette doesn't respond with actual words, instead opting to zip over to where Adrien is sat and snatch the Oreos out of his hand with a squeak. Sometimes Adrien cannot believe that she is legally a fully-functioning adult.

They spend the next hour or so not unpacking as intended but lying side-by-side on the floor, ploughing their way through too many Oreos (although both will assert that there is no such thing as too many Oreos) and watching true crime mini-documentaries online.

About ten minutes into the second mini-doc, they happen to have moved a little closer to each other. Neither says a thing.

About twenty minutes later, they've moved again so that Marinette is using Adrien's arm as a pillow. Neither says a thing.

About an hour later, Nino and Alya get back from their grocery-run-turned-romantic-stroll having not actually bought any groceries. After calling out for both friends and receiving no responses from either Marinette or Adrien, they find them curled up together on the floor as an overdramatic recreation of the Zodiac murders plays on Adrien's laptop and, although Alya and Nino share A Look, neither says a thing.


End file.
